Robertson Returns from Stanford

Mike Eubanks

01/14/2004

I've been pounded with questions about a very important official visitor last weekend, so here is your much-anticipated update. Georgia defensive end Darrell Robertson just took the second of his three visits, and has some specific areas of excitement to report about the Stanford trip. But the key question is if/how the experience helped to unseat his commitment school...

One of the jazzier recruiting stories for Stanford Football
this year is the recruitment of speed rusher Darrell Robertson
from Jonesboro High School in Jonesboro, GA. The defensive end
was involved with the Cardinal in the spring before he jumped on
board with a commitment to Bobby Bowden and Florida State in
September. Robertson did make it known that he might still take
some visits, but his recruitment went silent for most of the
fall.

As temperatures dropped in Georgia this winter, however, the
race has heated up once again for the 215-pound edge rusher. He
took his first official visit to Georgia Tech in December and
this past weekend officially visited Stanford. He will take his
final fateful trip to Tallahassee this coming weekend to wrap up
his semi-open college decision. For a recruit 3,000 miles away
like Robertson, the official visit counts for everything, so did
the Cardinal do and show enough this past weekend to leave an
indelible impression?

"Stanford was very nice," the 6'5" defensive
end comments. "It was everything I had been told. Just the
campus - it was very beautiful."

Sophomore defensive end Julian Jenkins was paired up with
Robertson as his host, and that assignment of course makes a lot
of sense. Jenkins was a star defensive end in his own class
(ranked #1 in the country) and had to make a decision whether or
not to travel across three time zones for a four-year college
experience in California. But Robertson says that it was the
greater group of players he saw that made an impression upon him.

"The thing that most impressed me was the people,"
the recruit recalls. "They were all a close knit family.
They all look out for each other."

While the people warmed his soul, his pulse was sent racing by
a totally different aspect of the trip. Touring the campus on
Stanford recruiting trips is about more than just the sites seen;
it's about the mode of transportation.

"My favorite part of the trip was the golf cart
races," he admits. "The lead hostess, Lisa, beat us all
out because she had the fastest cart. It was rigged!"

Robertson has two phases to these recruiting visits: the first
took him to two "new" schools while the second will be
his trip to his commitment school in Tallahassee. The first phase
is complete, and while it is unreasonable to expect Robertson to
stack Stanford up against FSU publicly, he did talk about the
impact he felt from the weekend in Palo Alto.

"When I took my trip to [Georgia] Tech I had already seen
the facilities and buildings, but Stanford was something new and
exciting," the Peach State prospect allows. "[Stanford]
was a nice trip. It shook things up a little, but not much."

Those last three words strike at your Cardinal heart like a
dagger. For a recruit to come straight off his official visit and
not receive higher praise - it is downright damning evidence
against Stanford's chances. You know that the Seminoles will put
on a fantastic visit for him next weekend, and Buddy Teevens
needed things to be very "shaken up" from last weekend
to survive the Tallahassee trip.

So scratch this guy off the recruiting table...

... Or not. The dynamic to keep in mind is that Robertson has
made a commitment to FSU and as such must be guarded in his
public comments. This is particularly true given that he has not
yet been admitted to Stanford. The Jonesboro athlete was
finishing up his essays and teacher recommendations this week to
mail off to Stanford, which puts his admissions answer at least
days away, if not a couple weeks. In the interim, he cannot say
anything to burn his FSU bridges because he has nothing firm yet
to fall back upon in Palo Alto.

No, I believe Stanford did much better with Darrell Robertson
this past weekend than his "but not much" comment lets
on. We will only know if and when he gains admission to Stanford.
Until then, just watch the paint dry and wait patiently. He has
no reason to give any spicier public affection to Stanford
anytime soon...

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